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Buying a 1.0-litre power bike

I want to buy a 1.0-litre power bike and my budget is up to Rs 10 lakh (part of which would be a loan). I would be using this bike for regular commuting but, in the end, I do not want high service centre expenses.

I have zeroed in on the Triumph Bonneville T120 as it fits my budget. However, it looks slim and unlike a 1,200cc bike. Why is the Triumph Bonneville T120 slimmer than bikes from other manufacturers like Ducati, Kawasaki and Benelli that are so muscular and massive? Though the T120 looks good, I am not 100 percent convinced due to its slim profile. The KTM 390 looks more bulky than the T120.Gokul Menon, via email

AAA The reason the Triumph Bonneville T120 looks the way it does is because it’s a modern classic and has a retro theme to it. If you were to look at older machines, they had much simpler designs and were without plastic body panels as they were all mostly metal. It also looks far from slim; it’s got twin peashooter exhausts that have been inspired by the Bonneville lineage it comes from. The modern nakeds you speak of are more muscular because of their modern design philosophies and the added freedom to cast plastic moulds into more organic shapes. The T120 is also the only motorcycle with over a litre’s worth of displacement that you could get for just over Rs 10 lakh. If a 1.0-litre displacement is not the major priority, there are lesser displacement motorcycles available cheaper that will give you the same levels of performance. Although, honestly, don’t expect service and spares to be cheap on any of the larger displacement bikes. That being said, Triumph does have good availability of spares.